BSR International Magazine Show from BroadSpectrumRadio.com Hosted by James M. Branum

In this episode:

* A response to US President Donald Trump’s offensive remarks about “shithole” countries
* A discussion of why it is legal for me to quote the President’s use of the word “shithole” on US radio stations.
* A selection of music from so-called “shithole” countries, played in solidarity with those resisting the US American empire in these countries.
* The BSR Radiogram — a digital broadcast in MFSK16 format (which can be decoded with the FLDGI program)

What follows is an computer-generated transcript of this mostly unscripted show (courtesy of the computers at Youtube). Errors abound, but I likely won’t have time to go back and fix them:

Welcome to the BSR international
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magazine show from BroadSpectrum
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Radio.com for January 2018. Your host for
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this program is James Branum. we
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broadcast this program on a monthly
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basis for international shortwave radio
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and online listeners out of our mission
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to promote the values of solidarity,
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socialism, science and spirituality. Our
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plans for the January show, our first of
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2018, had to be thrown out the window
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this week as we felt it was necessary to
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respond to president Trump’s remarks
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about what he called quote unquote
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shithole countries but before I go
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further I should say that I do my best
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to abide by the FCC regulations
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regarding profanity and hence avoid
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using bad words but there are some
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exception these are exceptions to these
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regulations and so before I get
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complaints and right now I’m gonna read
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an excerpt from the FCC website that
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deals with this question but you can
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also find a link to this page on the FCC
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website via our show page and our
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website at broad spectrum radio dot-com
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so now here’s the excerpt from the FCC
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website bold typeface what are the
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statutes and rules regarding the
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broadcast of obscene indecent and
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profane programming the answer tile 18
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of US Code section 1 464 prohibits the
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utterance of any obscene indecent or
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profane language by means of radio
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communication consistent with a
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subsequent statute in court case the
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Commission’s rules prohibit the
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broadcast of indecent material during
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the period of 6 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. a
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FCC decisions also prohibit the
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broadcast of profane material between 6
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a.m. and 10 p.m.
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several enforcement’s of these
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regulations rested with the FCC and is
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an important part of the FCC’s overall
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responsibilities at the same time the
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FCC must be mindful of the First
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Amendment of the United States
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Constitution in Section three to six of
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the Communications Act which prohibit
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the FCC from censoring program material
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or interfering with broadcasters
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free speech rights question what makes
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material obscene the answer according to
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the FCC is this obscene speech is not
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protected by the First Amendment and
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broadcasters are prohibited by statue
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and regulation from airing obscene
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material at any time according to the US
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Supreme Court to be obscene material
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must meet a three prong test one an
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average person applying contemporary
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community standards must find the
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material as a whole if he also the
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create interest ie material having a
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tendency to excite lustful thoughts to
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the material must depict or described in
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a patently offensive way sexual conduct
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specifically defined by applicable law
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and three the material taken as a whole
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must lack serious literary artistic
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political or scientific value the
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Supreme Court has indicated that this
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test is designed to cover hardcore
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pornography question what makes material
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indecent indecent material contain
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sexual or excretory material that is not
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rise to the level of the vicinity for
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this reason the courts have held that
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indecent material is protected by the
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First Amendment and cannot be banned
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entirely it may however be restricted to
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avoid ass broadcast during times the day
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when there is a reasonable risk that
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children may be in the audience the FCC
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is determined with the approval of the
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court so there’s a reasonable risk that
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children will be in the audience from 6
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and 6 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. local time
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therefore the FCC prohibits station
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licenses from broadcasting indecent
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material during that period material is
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indecent if in context it depicts to
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describe sexual extruded Tori organs or
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activities in terms patently offensive
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as measured by contemporary community
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standards for the broadcast medium in
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each case the FCC must determine whether
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the material describes or depicts sexual
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or excretory organs or activities and if
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so whether the material is patently
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offensive okay
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Oh be going here more from the FCC in
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our assessment of whether material is
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patently offensive context is critical
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the FCC looks at three primary factors
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when analyzing broadcast material one
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whether the description or depiction is
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explicit or graphic – whether material
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drowse on or Peet’s at link to
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descriptions or depictions of sexual or
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excretory organs and three whether the
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material appears to pander or is used to
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titillate or shock no single factor is
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determinative the FCC weighs and
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balances these factors because each case
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presents its own mix of these and
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possibly other factors question what
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makes material profane perfect answer
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profane language includes those words
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that are so highly offensive that their
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mere utterance in the context presented
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may in legal terms amount to a nuisance
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in as Golden Globes Awards order the FCC
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warned broadcasters that depending on
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the context he would consider the f-word
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and those words or variants thereof that
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are is highly offensive as the f-word to
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be profane language that cannot be
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broadcast between 6 a.m. and Tim p.m.
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question what is the safe harbor answer
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the safe harbor return refers to the
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time period between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00
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a.m. local time during this time period
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a station may air indecent and or
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profane material in contrast there is no
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safe harbor for the broadcast of obscene
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material obscene material is entitled to
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no First Amendment protection and may
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not be broadcast at any time question
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are there certain words that are always
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unlawful answer no offensive words may
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be profane and or indecent depending on
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the context in the Golden Globe Awards
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order the FCC stated that it would
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address the legality a broadcast
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language on a case-by-case basis
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depending on the context presented use
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of the f-word or other words is highly
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offensive as the f-word may be both
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indecent and profane if aired between 6
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a.m. and 10 p.m.
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anyway that’s the good stuff let’s see
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anything else here
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so my rate of all this is that the word
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shithole
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when quoting the offensive and racist
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remarks of a sitting US president when
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used as part of political discussion he
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is constitutionally protected free
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speech and can be said on the radio
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weather is made clear here and what the
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FCC itself says there are some words
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that that may be by their nature
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patently offensive but even then you
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have to look at does it meet the three
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prong tests for obscenity to say nothing
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of would you dealing with the lesser
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issues of indecency and profanity so
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want to make that clear and I want to
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have the issue of bad words dealt with
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ahead of time because I need to talk for
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a moment about something that is much
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more offensive than quote-unquote bad
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words which is the offensive racist
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beliefs and proposed policies of the US
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government it’s not just what Trump says
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it’s the fact that he is lobbying that
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he is pushing Congress to pass laws
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based upon his racist beliefs
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hence it is of course time for Trump
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removed to be removed from office I hope
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and pray by nonviolent political means
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but it must be done our nation in the
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world is in danger as long as a man with
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his beliefs holds this office in the
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meantime though one of the best ways we
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as the people of the world can respond
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to Trump’s remarks about so-called
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shithole countries is to instead show
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our loyalty and solidarity with the
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peoples of these countries we need to be
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on their side in this struggle and not
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on the side of the Empire and part of
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that struggle includes the work of
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culture and arts and so for the rest of
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the first half of this program I will be
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playing music from what Trump calls
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shithole countries but what I call proud
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countries who have been abused and
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insulted by the USA Empire for far too
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long and by the way you can find out
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information I’m not going to stop in the
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descriptions of the songs but I’ll have
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show notes and everything at our website
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broad spectrum radio
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just so we can get in as much music as
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possible and in our second half hour we
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will be broadcasting episode number two
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of the BS our radiogram a digital
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program this time broadcast in the m FS
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K 16 mode via analogue radio those
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digital broadcasts to the N via analog
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so my suggestion is for hobbyist out
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there to have your recorder handy and
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then be ready to record the audio and
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then later decode it using programs like
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f LD GI so we hope you enjoyed the
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program and don’t forget to send us your
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qsl report and of course if you had come
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comments complaints about bad language
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you can send that to us too our contact
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info is on our website broad spectrum
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radio comm and now time for the music
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[Music]